Constantin Teașcă

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Constantin Teașcă, nicknamed "Little Napoleon," was a Romanian football player and coach. He was born on 25 September 1922 in Giurgiu and died on 30 July 1996 in Bucharest. He was 1.62 meters tall and played as a midfielder.

Playing career
Teașcă began in youth football with Acvila Giurgiu (1932–1940) and then played for Acvila Giurgiu (1940–1946) and Concordia Ploiești (1946–1950). He retired from playing at age 28, having reached the Romanian second division at his highest level.

Coaching career
Teașcă started coaching in 1955 with Romania’s under-18 team, guiding them to top finishes in the 1955 and 1956 European Championships. He then worked with Dinamo București’s youth and moved on to senior coaching with clubs across Romania, including Dinamo Bacău, Dinamo Obor, and Dinamo București. He was Romania’s national team coach in 1962 and again in 1967. His only spell abroad was with Turkish club Fenerbahçe (1970–1971). Over the years he managed many teams, such as Universitatea Cluj, Argeș Pitești, FC Galați, Steaua București, Șoimii Sibiu, Universitatea Craiova, Steagul Roșu Brașov, Victoria București, Bihor Oradea and Montana Sinaia. In total he coached 323 Divizia A matches, recording 120 wins, 64 draws and 139 losses.

Style, influence and legacy
Teașcă was known for introducing professional training ideas, including better training facilities, diet control, and monitoring players’ activities outside training. He could be controversial, sometimes making players run with heavy bags, which caused clashes. He helped develop many young players at Universitatea Craiova, such as Nicolae Tilihoi and Aurel Țicleanu, and under his leadership Craiova won the Cupa României in 1976–77 (though he left before the final due to conflicts). He was also a writer, authoring five books in which he criticized players’ lack of professionalism. Constantin Teașcă passed away in 1996 at the age of 73.